Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Organization Secretary TKS Elangovan today (07) said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi must discuss the fishermen issue with Colombo and ensure that harsh comments are not made from Sri Lankan side in near future.

Commenting about the statement made by Sri Lankan Prime Minister saying that Indian fishermen may be shot if they intruded into Sri Lankan waters to a Tamil TV channel Elangovan asserted that it was the Indian Prime Minister’s duty to take actions in order to protect Indian fishermen.

"The Prime Minister must understand and then hold discussions on these matters with the Government of Sri Lanka," he added.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India earlier in the day declared that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj would raise the fishermen issue with her counterpart in Colombo as well as Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe, adding that this is a humanitarian and emotive issue which requires longer term solutions.

The Sri Lankan Prime Minister had earlier on Friday said that his government was willing to make a 'reasonable deal' with India with respect to the fishing rights, adding that the law creates provisions for a man to 'shoot' an intruder in his home.

"If someone tries to break into my house, I can shoot. If he gets killed,Law allows me to do that. On the fishermen issue, As far as I'm concerned, I have very very strong lines. These are our waters. Fishermen of Jaffna should be allowed to fish. We stopped them from fishing, which is why the Indian fishermen came in They are willing to have a deal.Let's have a reasonable deal.But not at the expense of the income of the Northern Fishermen," Prime Minister Wickremasinghe said in an exclusive interview to Thanthi TV, a Chennai based news channel.
(with inputs from ANI)